After first day of camp, Shaw says Montgomery looks ‘phenomenal’; Young is the frontrunner at tailback

Stanford coach David Shaw ran his team through its first day of training camp Monday, then said Ty Montgomery looked “phenomenal.’’ Meanwhile, the top running back at the moment is Kelsey Young.

Montgomery, the All-America wide receiver, is coming off offseason shoulder surgery, and Shaw said he’ll be protected once the hitting begins.

The players don’t don shoulder pads until Wednesday, and their first day in full pads is Friday.

Shaw said he liked the team’s intensity, albeit without pads. “It wasn’t perfect, but I applaud our sense of maturity as a team for the way we started training camp.”

It was the first practice without such mainstays as offensive guard David Yankey, linebackers Shayne Skov and Trent Murphy and safety Ed Reynolds, all of whom have moved to the NFL.

“We’re as proud as anything of those guys’ accomplishments and them moving on,’’ Shaw said. “We also take a lot of pride in saying we can’t have a dropoff. We just can’t. We can’t be lamenting about who’s not here. The guys that are here better get the job done.’’

The tailback position will draw much of the attention when Stanford holds open practices on Saturday (11:10 a.m.) and Aug. 16 (12:05 p.m.). The leader going into camp was Young, a redshirt junior, according to Mike Bloomgren, the offensive coordinator and associate head coach.

Young, who like former Cardinal rushing star Toby Gerhart is from Norco (Riverside County), moved to the head of the pack in spring drills, Bloomgren said. “His production and explosion were out of sight,’’ he said.

There’s plenty of time for Barry Sanders, Ricky Seale or Remound Wright to overtake him, however. “We’ve got 28 more practices before we have to play,’’ Bloomgren said.

The one sad note on the first day was that backup defensive tackle Ikenna Nwafor, a redshirt sophomore, is probably done with football. Shaw said Nwafor likely will be forced into a medical retirement because of an undisclosed leg injury. He played in just three games last year after sitting out his freshman season.

“It’s sad with the ability he has and was excited about,’’ Shaw said. “He’s premed and has a bright future outside of football.’’

Without the graduated Murphy, Skov and defensive end Ben Gardner, Stanford will have to look to others for a pass rush. Shaw is expecting big things from outside linebackers Kevin Anderson and James Vaughters.

Anderson “made some big plays’’ last year, Shaw said. “He just didn’t have to play a lot because of the way Trent was. James Vaughters is faster and more explosive than he was a year ago.’’

Defensive tackle Aziz Shittu is improved, and end Henry Anderson is healthy, Shaw said. “All those things lead us to believe we can be productive on our pass rush.’’